Angels and The Other Worlds

The Following is from Early Writings, p. 39

Angelic interaction with God's people

I have seen the tender love that God has for His people, and it is very great. I saw angels over the saints with their wings spread about them. Each saint had an attending angel. If the saints wept through discouragement, or were in danger, the angels that ever attended them would fly quickly upward to carry the tidings, and the angels in the city would cease to sing. Then Jesus would commission another angel to descend to encourage, watch over, and try to keep them from going out of the narrow path; but if they did not take heed to the watchful care of these angels, and would not be comforted by them, but continued to go astray, the angels would look sad and weep. They would bear the tidings upward, and all the angels in the city would weep, and then with a loud voice say, “Amen.” But if the saints fixed their eyes upon the prize before them and glorified God by praising Him, then the angels would bear the glad tidings to the city, and the angels in the city would touch their golden harps and sing with a loud voice, “Alleluia!” and the heavenly arches would ring with their lovely songs. EW 39.1 

There is perfect order and harmony in the Holy City. All the angels that are commissioned to visit the earth hold a golden card, which they present to the angels at the gates of the city as they pass in and out. Heaven is a good place. I long to be there and behold my lovely Jesus, who gave His life for me, and be changed into His glorious image. Oh, for language to express the glory of the bright world to come! I thirst for the living streams that make glad the city of our God. EW 39.2 

A vision of other worlds

The Lord has given me a view of other worlds. Wings were given me, and an angel attended me from the city to a place that was bright and glorious. The grass of the place was living green, and the birds there warbled a sweet song. The inhabitants of the place were of all sizes; they were noble, majestic, and lovely. They bore the express image of Jesus, and their countenances beamed with holy joy, expressive of the freedom and happiness of the place. I asked one of them why they were so much more lovely than those on the earth. The reply was, “We have lived in strict obedience to the commandments of God, and have not fallen by disobedience, like those on the earth.” Then I saw two trees, one looked much like the tree of life in the city. The fruit of both looked beautiful, but of one they could not eat. They had power to eat of both, but were forbidden to eat of one. Then my attending angel said to me, “None in this place have tasted of the forbidden tree; but if they should eat, they would fall.” Then I was taken to a world which had seven moons. There I saw good old Enoch, who had been translated. On his right arm he bore a glorious palm, and on each leaf was written “Victory.” Around his head was a dazzling white wreath, and leaves on the wreath, and in the middle of each leaf was written “Purity,” and around the wreath were stones of various colors, that shone brighter than the stars, and cast a reflection upon the letters and magnified them. On the back part of his head was a bow that confined the wreath, and upon the bow was written “Holiness.” Above the wreath was a lovely crown that shone brighter than the sun. I asked him if this was the place he was taken to from the earth. He said, “It is not; the city is my home, and I have come to visit this place.” He moved about the place as if perfectly at home. I begged of my attending angel to let me remain in that place. I could not bear the thought of coming back to this dark world again. Then the angel said, “You must go back, and if you are faithful, you, with the 144,000, shall have the privilege of visiting all the worlds and viewing the handiwork of God.”

Angels Communicate with Other Worlds

Source: 6LtMs, Letter 36a, 1890

From light to light, God is leading His people. He liveth in light unapproachable, but surrounded by ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands of holy, happy beings, everyone of them waiting to do His bidding. They are not inactive, but in communication with other worlds in all God’s vast dominion. This little world is but an atom of the Lord’s dominion. Through various agencies, divine and human, He is seeking to save. He is actually stooping from His throne and observing the movements of every living being, and in His books are recorded every transaction; and through heavenly agencies He is lifting up the oppressed and pointing the way before every soul—the way to reach the mansions above. 6LtMs, Lt 36a, 1890

Unseen Agencies

The following excerpt is from Manuscript 39, 1898, paragraphs 10-16

How few contemplate the unseen agencies. Men are acting their part wither for God or for Satan, the Prince of light, or the prince of darkness. All heaven is intensely interested in the human beings who seem to be so full of activity, and yet have not thought for the unseen. Their thoughts are not on the Word of God and its instruction. If they would appreciate the Word of God, they would be assured that there are agencies, good and evil, observing every word and deed. They are in every assembly for business transactions, in councils, and in meetings for the worship of God.

There are more listeners in these public assemblies than can be seen with the natural sight, and every man has his work to do. Those unseen agencies are co-laborers with God or with Satan, and they work more mightily and more constantly than do man. Sometimes the heavenly intelligences draw aside the curtain that hides the unseen world, that we may have our minds withdrawn from the hurry and rush, and consider that there are witnesses to all we do and say when engaged in business, or when we think ourselves alone. 

The Lord would have our perceptions keen to understand that those mighty ones who visit our world have borne an active part in all the work which we have called our own. These heavenly beings are ministering angels, and they frequently disguise themselves in the form of human beings. As strangers they converse with those who are engaged in the work of God. In lonely places they have been the companions of the traveler in peril. In tempest-tossed ships [angels] in human form have spoken words of encouragement to allay fear and inspire hope in the hour of danger, and the passengers have thought that it was one of their number to whom they had never before spoken. 

Interaction with inhabitants of other worlds

Many, under different circumstances, have listened to the voices of the inhabitants of other worlds. They have come to act a part in this life. They have spoken in assemblies, and opened before assemblies human histories, and have done works which it was impossible for human agencies to do. Time and again have they been the generals of armies. They have been sent forth to cleanse away the pestilence. They have eaten at the humble board of families. Often they have appeared an weary travellers in need of shelter for the night. 

We need to understand better than we do the work of these angel visitants. It would be well for all who claim to be children of God to consider that words they speak are in the hearing of heavenly beings, and that they behold the works they do. Who would think that heavenly angels are co-operating with us in our work? But so it is, and thus earth is connected with heaven. 

In this little speck of a world the heavenly universe manifests the greatest interest, for Jesus paid an infinite price for the souls of its inhabitants. The world’s Redeemer has bound this world to heaven by ties of intelligence; the redeemed of the Lord are here. When man severs himself from his Keeper, he is unfit for any good. His light goes out in darkness and disorder. Israel might have remained in the light of God’s countenance, and, as a nation, been a bright shining light, but Christ was forced to say to them, Ye will not come within the rays of the Sun of Righteousness, that he may give you light. When men depart from obedience to God, they do not love to be in His light. It is this that makes their deeds evil. 

Said Christ, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” [John 10:27, 28.] Men talk of independence, of self-reliance, but they can have self-reliance with safety only in God. Man’s self-reliance is a miserable failure which takes him away from the divine Counsellor, in whom he lives and moves, and has his being.